It's utterly disgraceful. We all expected them to have a showdown. Name calling, protest and shouting, perhaps. But the Perak lawmakers seem to have gone further. From alleged pepper spraying to shoving and wresting for the microphone, we have gone down the Taiwan way, where such antics have become a norm at their legisalature meetings.
What has happened today is a new low in Malaysian politics. I cannot remember police having to be called into the chambers of any House. It's regarded as a sacred place. During the 80s, I recalled Karpal Singh being escorted out of the Penang Assembly after the Sargeant At Arms failed to persuade Karpal to leave. Karpal left together with then OCPD of George Town. But he did so with a degree of dignity and the officer was also very polite and professional.
There have been calls that a fresh election be called in Perak to let the people decide. But before that, we should all insist that an anti-hopping law be enacted first. What's the point of having fresh polls if there is going to elected representatives who may quit to be independents or defectors. It does not look like there is any political party which would want to have such a law, all claiming it's against the federal constitution which guarantees freedom of association.
PAS deputy president Husam Musa has said that the party is wooing a Barisan assemblyman in Kelantan to defect. The announcement, he said, would be made very soon. Anwar Ibrahim himself planned the Sept 16 massive crossovers which failed miserably. The Perak crisis today is a result of such defections. In Penang, a forced by-election is taking place because of internal PKR fighting. These politicians have failed Malaysians.
Blow-by-blow accounts at The Star Online and Malaysian Insider among others.
Blow-by-blow accounts at The Star Online and Malaysian Insider among others.
20 comments:
What a shame to Malaysia! The only way to solve this issue is to dissolve the assembly and let the rakyat decide once and for all whom they want. This is a 1st in Malaysia - 2 MB's, 2 speaker, police allowed into the Assembly to drag the speaker out, motion passed even before the assembly is officated by Raja Nazrin. Oh, what a shame.
Dear Wong.
BN has blundered big time. It is becoming a laughing stock and the rakyat have become to despise BN.
The only fair solution to this mess is fresh elections.
Plain and simple.
There is no other way.
The press must be neutral and be bold enough to admit that fresh elections is THE ONLY SOLUTION.
Political parties agree to support the anti hopping law.
it is inevitable.
Fresh elections has to be called ASAP.
Thank you Datuk Wong for speaking up and helping create a new and better Malaysia
What is happening in Perak is a big disgrace. And the blame falls squarely on BN's shoulders. BN abused the public and royal institutions to misuse it to overthrow the Pakatan Rakyat government illegally. It is an utter disgrace. There should be a fresh election in Perak to end the chaos. We do not recognise Zambry as the CM.
I agree with you on the anti hopping laws.
Please do a STAR Online poll to gauge public opinion.
Whether it comes from Pakatan or BN - party hopping is not acceptable.
"I cannot remember police having to be called into the chambers of any House."
And they did not have to be, and they had no right to drag the speaker away. Whose orders were the police following? The truth is the police force serves BN, not the people.
"There have been calls that a fresh election be called in Perak to let the people decide. But before that, we should all insist that an anti-hopping law be enacted first."
And let BN rape the land for another term? No, thanks. Truth is BN knows it can ill afford another poll now that support for it is dwindling day after day. This is BN's desperate cling to power, in the hope that it could in this term take away what remaining rights the people have to undermine its tyranny. We're no different from Zimbabwe in many ways, you know that?
"In Penang, a forced by-election is taking place because of internal PKR fighting."
Right, BN will never do that. We know if a BN DCM was alleged to be involved in some sort of massive scale corruption, he will never be brought to book or even investigated. The MACC, like the police, also serves BN. Anything can be resolved behind closed doors. Tell you what, I wouldn't mind another round of poll if only transparency was assured, so I say bring it on, call the election.
It's a disgrace indeed for anyone to attempt to pin the blame on the powerless in order to pander to the powerful. We can see what is happening. We can see who is not impartial. And we will let our hurt feelings be known.
The best thing that Najib can do to restore his credibility is to resolve the Perak crisis by removing the blocks for a snap election. He can show that he is a gentleman, who is not afraid to admit that he had made a mistake, and is brave enough to rectify the problem. Afterall, everybody makes mistakes, but it takes character to admit the mistake and to make the correction.
you should call a spade a spade. The police must not be involved in the legislative function. Period. There is not two way about it. You can blame whole day on what other people fail to do, but have you raise your pen to write about the atrocities to the legislature this is? Rotten, and utterly dirty. I didn't wear black this morning. But I wear black now. A day of mourning. Democracy? Withering democracy more likely.
BN's has too much pride to admit it made blunder after blunder and whatever ounce, if any, of legitimacy is now totally gone, plain for any fair minded person to see. The citizens of Malaysia must never allow our constitutional rights to be hijacked in broad daylight by the BN pirates who are taking what is not theirs, the power to rule.
If this is their methodology to win the hearts and minds of Malaysians across the entire country they are doomed to fail. I am amazed how blind they are to the wishes of the rakyat. This is not the end game, they might think they have won the battle but they have just lost the war!
Law of the jungle rules Perak Assembly sitting, says ZambriWhy only report robber MB Zambry version only? What about Sivakumar's version too? Why is theStar so lob-sided?
This ongoing Perak fiasco is good for the rakayt to witness.
It shows that the police are not impartial.
It shows that civil servants are not impartial, e.g Secretary of the Assembly.
It shows that the BN does not respect the rule of law as the court cases have not been decided yet.
It shows that some judges cannot read the Constitution, even if it is written very plainly, e.g Article 72(1)
It shows that MSM has weaknesses in reporting facts.
It is shameful in the annals of Malaysian history but perhaps it will open the eyes of the rakyat further to make more imformed decisions when it comes to elections of their representatives in Parliament or State Assemblies, assuming that these institutions will survive.
Chun Wai,
Even in your blog you have the pro-govt slant. I know deep inside if you can you would condemn the govt's action in Perak.
Show us you have balls man...Have dignity in your writings. Have courage and copnvictions otherwise don't call yourself a journalist, let alone an editor.
Cross your heart andd asy it is the opposition that caused the Perak mess?
Blackie
yeah, dun mask your criticism le. but with the tightening of media .. your stand is interesting though insufficient
It's a long road ahead but day by day, we are exposed to more of BN's 'brutal force' in taking over the state leadership of Perak. One way or another, the electorate will be given the power to decide in the next coming GE.
BN has decided to go ahead and proclaim victory in spite of the public outrage both seen at Ipoh and more obviously through the internet. If they feel this is a risk worth taking so be it. People's power will eventually prevail.
We have seen it all yesterday thanks to the no holds barred live reports from Ipoh. We are now a better informed citizen.
2 years down the line, more citizens will have the privilege of internet access and these stories will resurface then to haunt the present ruling Govt. They have failed over and over again to understand the sentiments of the rakyat. There's no undoing of the damage they have done now. They have basically dug their own graves.
Perakians in particular will remember 'Black Thursday'.
Good luck BN, we will show you who call the shots the next General Elections!
UMNO/BN is trying to avoid an election in Perak for fear that it will damage its image. But the irony is that without the snap election, UMNO/BN's image is already down the toilet. If there is an election in Perak, at least it has a chance to improve the critics wrong.
What a shame indeed. Even a first year law student knows what it mean by Separation of Power, and yet in Perak Assembly, police are allow into the assembly, forcefully drag the speaker out. What a shame! for one man's pride, the whole country mourn.
Disgusted
Indeed. Take another vote from me ~ totally shameful and disgusting.
I swear in the next election I will draw a donkey on the balloting paper to spoil the vote. None of these present monkeys (whether BN or pakatan) deserve my vote.
Dato Seri Wong - it amazes me that no one reported YB Hee for the following
a) threatening to discharge a weapon (pepper spray) you go figure.
how appropriate...the title "Perak's Animal House"....and current...just relate to President's Obama recent joke about how in the next 100 days must train their dog...so that will not treat Mr.Timothy Geithner like a Fire Hydrant.
The Perak State Assembly Institution's sanctity has been degraded to Fire Hydrant status with howling and barking over a meatless bone and the 'speaker' of this 'Fire Hydrant' Assembly can be dragged out like a stray dog.
Welcome to Malaysia's Animal Farm.
Why waste public money on another big election. And don't forget that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is the big culprit who started all the circus show.
He wooed the BN MPs to cross over so that he could be the new PM on 6/9/2008. When it failed, he tried to strengthen Pakatan Rakyat in Perak by `stealing' Nasaruddin of Bota from BN.
Certainly Karpal Singh was right to declare that Anwar is unfit to be the opposition leader. Now, many in Pas too are beginning to realise that their party has been manipulated by Anwar for his never dying personal dream of becoming the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Anwar has managed to divide Pas into two now.
To many of us, the turmoil in Perak is a result of BN's power grab. But let us not forget the basic law of nature which stipulated that every action induces reaction.
What BN did in Perak is just a reaction to Anwar's action. Talking about fairness, here we are to blame only on BN.
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